Arkansas River Valley residents have a new place to satisfy their caffeine fix - but like with many new openings, especially here in Russellville, there's may be a bit of a wait.

Friday was the official opening day of Starbucks, the ubiquitous coffee shop that seemed to have made its way to every other decent-sized city in the state before it came to Russellville.

The store, with its prime location at Parkway and Weir Road, sits next to another new franchise in town, Taco Bueno. Although Bueno entered an increasingly crowded market for Mexican-type food in the area, restaurant patrons are often just looking for a new place to eat; a new restaurant is a new restaurant, especially in a fast-growing, college town.

Now if we could just get a few more new places to dine.

Most people aren't likely to travel very far for a fancy coffee drink or a taco on a regular basis, but they will drive a few miles to eat for a special occasion, or for simply a change from what they have in their hometown.

And of course, when people spend their money elsewhere, they are also spending their tax dollars elsewhere as well.

The nearest city with a large number of popular, sit-down chain restaurants is Conway, 40-plus miles away. As we know, despite being located in a dry county like Russellville, Conway has restaurants such as Applebee's, Chili's, McAlister's and Outback. (Fortunately, as we reported a few weeks ago, it looks like plans are finally getting underway for an IHOP on Reasoner Lane near Interstate 40 here in Russellville.)

The mention of these chain restaurants is not in anyway meant to disparage our mom-and-pop, locally owned restaurants that are a part of the character of the Arkansas River Valley and have been for years, even decades. (Sometimes, a small-town hamburger and banana split make your mouth water more than at a franchise restaurant.) But we would be foolish to ignore the business and revenue many of these franchises create, and the fact some diners, especially those from out of town, would rather go with the familiar when it comes to eating out.

And in addition to tax revenue, isn't tourism another aspect the city of Russellville is trying more and more to promote?